Hamilo Take 4

After we were done talking about the unit and after meeting the next door neighbors, we finally went off to the beach for the kids.

First order of business was to get something to drink. The problem was it was crowded.


margherita pizza

They burned it.


halo halo

This looks massive and it was quite large but that ice cream scoop is rather deceiving. It was actually the size of a smallish apricot. It was also served in a soup bowl, similar to our ramen bowls...


The meal was memorable in one respect: The waitstaff was utterly useless. Just to get drinks, pizza, halo halo and an order of beefsteak tagalog and then to pay for it took 2 hours!! As a result, the adults didn't get a chance to swim. Just as well as it was crowded there too.

While the kids played, I went and took some more photos...


beach 1


beach 2


beach 3


beach 4


Once this is completed, I think the family will enjoy visiting the place. Except Lolo and/or Lola have to be present at all times. But the grandkids will love it.

Hamilo Take 3

After we got checked in, we went off to the building where their unit is located.

There is a circle where cars pull up and you enter the lobby. Although the unit number is 214B, it is on the third floor (G, LG, 1st floor).


hallway


front door

It's the door on the left. I accidentally went into the door and the right and sort of surprised the maids inside. Oops.


kitchen view

Here we are inside the unit with Jill, the manager. Behind Lola is the kitchen. Turns out that most of the pieces we bought in Ikea will not fit because: 1. There is the fuse box, 2. There is a water outlet under the fuse box, 3. There is a special plug for the required electric range, 4. There are windows that were not marked on the blueprint, 5. There is a drop box from the ceiling containing some pipes and electric conduits. Sheesh.


jacana exterior


Here is the back of their building. When standing on the balcony, the view is of the lagoon and the unfinished buildings beyond.

Hamilo Take 2

We got back in the car and drove down to the Clubhouse.


clubhouse


another view of the clubhouse main floor


view of the pool

A little hard to see the main pools. They were setting up for the open house party in the evening. It really wasn't an open house as one needed an invitation.


verandah

You can see the lagoon here.


We really didn't a chance to look around but I saw there was a restaurant down below and next to the pool. Also there was a library and some function rooms down the hall. As I was waiting for Lolo and Lola to inquire about how to get into their unit, etc. Some old guy in a wheelchair and his procession went by.

Hamilo Take 1

From Tagaytay, Hamilo is an hour away. The terrible thing is that it's like 3 hours away and as of now there is no shortcut; next year, they say that the ferry will be operational which will cut the time down to 1.5 hours. Then supposedly a few years after that, they will finish the road which will cut through coastal Cavite instead of having to go up to Tagaytay and then back down again the other side.

This place is owned by SM/Henry Sy (the richest man in the Philippines and apparently a dollar billionaire). Yesterday was a special open house to show off the place so it was pack! (as Irene used to say).

overlook 1


overlook 2

The unit is the building farthest to the right. It is right next to the main clubhouse. Although you can't quite see it here, there is a picturesque lagoon between the taller buildings in the background and the buildings under construction in the middle ground.


overlook 3


Here you can sort of glimpse the protected cove and the sea beyond.


overlook 4

Sort of the same shot, except different person in the shot.


I was told that Henry Sy bought 9000 hectares to make this place. It is actually kind of pretty with the steep hills all around. Also there are 12 or 13 coves, most of which are deserted with the exception of a guard...

Antonio's, On the way to Hamilo

Yesterda, Saturday (May 23, 2010), we all went to Hamilo in far Batangas to check out the unit and go swimming. On the way there, we stopped off at this restaurant in Tagaytay called Antonio's which is famous and is located in some old converted house.


front entrance


library


upper level 1


upper level 2


We sat on one of the lower levels. This place serves approximately Western style food with the specialty being corned beef and eggs.


corned beef and eggs

This was not a very well composed plate actually. It consisted of 2 over easy eggs, 2 corned beef slices, some potatoes and a dab of sauerkraut with a piece of bread. The sauce was supposed to be a horseradish sauce but didn't really taste like anything except maybe thickened broth.


chorizo roesti

Lolo got this to taste as well as eggs benedict. Very odd soft of thing but I guess it is possible for one to find it tasty.


chorizo roesti 2

We also got french toast which was cinnamony. That is the thing to order next time.

Miscellaneous pix 2

Here are a couple of miscellaneous shots that I had floating around.


arroz a la cubana

Lola had some emergency dental work that Errol had to do (Ina's bf). While we were waiting for her to finish, we snuck off to Greenbelt and Dulcinea for breakfast. Somehow this wasn't quite as good as I remembered. Passable but...


tapa queen

We were off to visit a client, who after we arrived informed us we only had 5 minutes as he was off to an emergency meeting someplace. We had a late lunch at a Tapa King restaurant as it was pretty much the only non-fast food restaurant we could find in time. I ordered my usual at this place, the Tapa Queen which is slightly sweet and spicy beef tapa served with egg and fried rice.


Yet another day (Saturday), we had to go to a client lab to do load testing in a lab. This means we have lots of people sit in a 40 - 50 computer lab and have them open and use our software all at the same time to see how long it takes to load the software on each computer, etc. Dino didn't ask details of where we were going so we ended up going to the wrong site (the one above where we had tapa for lunch). Instead it was completely at another place that took us almost an hour to get to.

fatima computer lab


fatima hallway

School isn't in yet so the hallways are empty.


view from lab window


lunch

I was sent out to get lunch with a few of the boys: 7 buckets of chicken, 40+ servings of rice, 4 kinds of sides, dessert brownies for 28, 20 or 30 liters of water, 7 or 8 liters of soda, ice. Over US$100.


pullman haircut

Pullman will be heading to kindergarten in a couple of weeks. He already was fitted with his uniform, got his school supplies and is now getting what hopefully will be his regulation school haircut. After it was done, Dino expressed doubt that it was short enough--he may have to go back and get it fixed.

Casa Armas

Shortly after Lolo and Lola got back, Lolo expressed a very strong desire to eat Iberian chicken at Casa Armas on Nakpil Street. We ordered the bird in advance as usual but then he suddenly decided he had to have dinner with Tito Louie and TJ, so he didn't even get any. Tito Eyo who was in the office was ordered to go with us. Unfortunately due to the darkness of the restaurant, these pictures didn't quite turn out.


Tito Eyo 1


Tito Eyo 2


iberian chicken

Caved in just as always. Dino was claiming it was too salty, but then again he wasn't eating it properly--with lots of rice and chicken drippings/oil poured on top of it. Luckily we had left overs and I enjoyed those the next day.

Seryna

We strive to eat Japanese for lunch at least once a week, especially when Lolo is out at a client or sales call as he was this week. We went off to the old standby, Seryna. This particular time, Dino invited Ryan and Jefrey to join us. Neither had ever had real Japanese food before so there was a bit of awkwardness at first. They ended up eating well in the end.


kaisen bento

This is my standard order there. Quite a bit of food really, but worth it.


top tier

Twelve different kinds and lots of daikon on the bottom.


botom tier

Seasoned rice, tamagoyaki, pickles, gari.

El Cirkulo

In our quest for something that Dino and Lola will eat, we suddenly ended up at El Cirkulo. It was Dino and Jenny's anniversary and we suggested someplace special but they were being a bid modest and didn't want to go anywhere special. Of course, this place is already considered special by most people here. For our crowd, it was just another lunch place.


amuse bouche


chorizo

This was pretty good. It is nestled on a bed of peppers and onions.


gambas al ajillo


Another good one. It tasted like there was a little bit of the chorizo oil in this. No chorizo itself but the oil was just nicely flavored.


foie gras 3 ways

The 3 ways from left to right: grilled bread with lightly grilled foie gras with a chutney; classic with a fruit compote; and grilled bread and grilled foie gras with a balsamic glaze. The last one was by far the winner.


sopa de ajo


We had ordered the lunch special which was a three course deal with soup of the day (above), a main and dessert. This soup was flavored with smoked Spanish pimenton. The smokiness was a little haunting but it didn't exactly taste like sopa de ajo, still it was good.



slow roasted beef belly

It was a prime rib cut where the bottom portion was cut away. Everybody thought there was a smell to it, but I thought it was okay. With a dab of horseradish, it was soft and comforting. It was served with zucchini, long roasted tomato, some sauteed mushrooms and a couple of candied onions.


buko lychee sherbet


Homemade buko lychee sherbet. Tiny chunks of buko and lychee, no milk in it. Great finisher to the meal.


Dino's interest was piqued by the Friday lunch special: fabada.

Tsukiji

We went to lunch with with Pullman and his cousin, Simon. They got ebi tempura to share, Lola, Yaya Valen and Dino got a sukiyaki teishoku, Jenny got gyudon.


tendon


Lolo went with the tendon which he seemed to enjoy.


tenzaru soba

I went with the tenzaru soba. The tempura was okay but the soba was very forgettable. I need to remember not to order soba of any kind here.

Ukokkei Ramen

When I had dinner and drinks with Marty, he mentioned a few places that eats in. At the top of his ramen list is this place on Pasay Road called Ukokkei Ramen. The place has a ganko chef who closes the restaurant as soon as the soup runs out. Anyway we ended up eating dinner there with Marty, Dino and Jenny. The next week, we decided to bring Lola there.

lunch set

I had this lunch set: miso ramen, salad, niku jaga (?), mabo nasu/tofu don. Pretty tasty but the soup was on the oily side. The noodles here are exceptionally better than every other place in Manila, and better than many in Japan. Too bad they are stretched by the time you are 2/3 of the way through (this is because the soup is nuclear hot). The mabo was very tasty and definitely worth eating again (although it is not sold a la carte). Not sure exactly why they served the niku jaga but I liked the chew of the potato. The salad was boring.


miso ramen


mabo nasu/tofu donburi


niku jaga


salad


I didn't bother taking pictures of everybody's food today but mine was the winner of the day...